Angela Rayner fires warning shot at Keir Starmer over Diane Abbott row

Angela Rayner has said she cannot see “any reason” why Diane Abbott can’t stand to be a Labour MP at the General Election.

The veteran MP’s future is hanging in the balance, with Labour bosses yet to decide whether she can represent the party. In a major intervention, Ms Rayner told ITV: “I don’t see any reason why Diane Abbott can’t stand as a Labour MP going forward. I am saying that as deputy leader of the Labour Party.”

She also hit out at negative briefings against Ms Abbott – the first Black woman to be elected to Parliament in 1987 – in recent days. The Labour deputy leader said: “I don’t think that is how we should conduct ourselves.”

Keir Starmer insisted on Wednesday that it was “not true” Ms Abbott had been barred from standing, claiming a decision has not been made. But he has come under pressure from MPs across the party to resolve the situation.

Speaking in Wales today, the Labour leader insisted he was not purging left-wing candidates and praised Diane Abbott’s political record. Asked if he was blocking left-wingers from standing, he said: “No. I’ve said repeatedly over the last two years as we’ve selected our candidates that I want the highest-quality candidates. That’s been the position for a very long time.”

He went on: “The situation in relation to Diane Abbott is that no decision has been taken to bar her and you have to remember that she was a trailblazer as an MP, she overcame incredible challenges to achieve what she achieved in her political career.She carved out a path for others to come into politics and she did all that whilst also being one of the most abused MPs across all political parties. But I’ve always had the aspiration that we will have the best quality candidates as we go into this election.”

At a rally outside Hackney Town Hall in her constituency, Ms Abbott vowed to fight on in a defiant speech. She told the crowd: “You have always stood with me in good times and bad and I will always stand with you. So I promise you that as long as it is possible, I will be the Member of Parliament for Hackney North and Stoke Newington.”

It comes as other left-wingers were barred from standing at the General Election. Lloyd Russell-Moyle, who has been the MP for Brighton Kemptown since 2017, was suspended from the party after it received a “serious complaint” about him. He insisted the allegations, which will prevent him from being a candidate, were “vexatious” and “false”.

Faiza Shaheen, who had been selected to stand for the party in Chingford and Woodford Green, is also understood to be at risk of being blocked. The party received a complaint over claims she liked a social media post on accusing the “hysterical” Israel lobby of making “antisemitism accusations”. The tweet claimed anybody who is mildly critical of Israel is “assailed” by “professional organisations” who “every time” inflict “non-stop harassment” and “accuse you of antisemitism”.

Ms Abbott had the Labour whip restored on Tuesday over a year after it was suspended when she suggested Jewish, Irish and Traveller people experienced prejudice, but not racism all their lives. She apologised at the time and is understood to have attended an anti-Semitism awareness course in February.